#this post is actually the last section of a longer post I made - but I'm posting it separately bc I think it is a good post on it's own

[lucalicatteart]

Poll adventure (paventure? lol) Day 16: read the small story tidbit below the poll for more details, OR just vote based on initial impression

(✦ see past poll results + further information HERE (link) ✦)

Yesterday's poll decided that The Adventurer should offer to help the travelers with their broken wagon.....

~

After much internal deliberation (and some zoning out staring at butterflies), The Adventurer decides it would be best to offer his assistance. Technically, he IS still following his goal of not getting distracted, because theoretically it would make his journey much faster if he were able to catch a ride on a carriage. So really, this is all an ultimate big brain genius strategy for maximizing efficient travel.. Or, at least that sounds like a good enough justification to him.

Gathering up all of his social courage, he approaches one of the travelers fiddling with a broken wheel near the far end of the carriage and meekly asks if there's anything he could do to help.

The man was so focused on his task, he seems initially startled to look up and find someone near him. "OH..! Oh, uhh.. help? With the wagon?", he smiles pleasantly, gesturing towards a few wooden boards that are just out of his reach, "Sure, kid. If you could just hand me th-"

"Apologies, but we actually won't be needing your assistance, stranger." A taller man, surprisingly almost matching the stature of the Adventurer, suddenly slinks out from somewhere behind the carriage, sternly placing himself like a barrier in front of the man working on the wheel. Wheel Guy nervously averts his eyes, making himself smaller, silently resuming his work.

The Adventurer tries his best to maintain composure against the weight of the tall man's bitter gaze, but can't seem to muster much of a response "Aeughh,,, uh… b-but, h- Bu--HHHh,,?.."

"Look, disregard whatever my father told you, he's old, never has any clue what he's talking about. It'd be best for you to simply move along." ('Father'? They don't look alike at all, and seem to be nearly the same age..)

"W-well.. he.. he didn't really tell me anything, I me-hhH,,.. I mean, I literally just got here, s-so...."

"Good. Even more reason to be on your way."

Placing a gloved hand firmly on his shoulder, the tall man begins to motion the Adventurer away from the wagon, but a strange noise interrupts, echoing from inside. Perhaps some sort of animal sound? Or a person faintly yelling about something? Or… both?

"WH-wHggg… whAT was t-that???!!" The Adventurer immediately stops in place, pausing to listen as the tall man keeps trying to push him ahead.

"I didn't hear anything, stranger."

"No, t-there.. was dEFinitely, UHH, a-"

"Likely something in the forest."

"Wh--aah... d.. do you think it was an animal?"

The tall man continues a dramatic struggle to 'subtly' drag him further down the road, whilst the Adventurer mindlessly digs in his heels, too distracted to even notice he's being so strongly prompted to leave.

"Many animals do, indeed, exist within forests. This should not be suprising."

"...It's just.. ..eughh… s… so weird…"

"I assure you, it is not."

"I-it really sounded like.. like it came f-from insid-"

"Yes, from inside the forest. Now, please, if you would.."

The noise interrupts again. It's definitely someone, or something, in some sort of distress.. And definitely from inside of the cart.

"wHoAAGH, aa!!! T-tHat's NOT from the f-forest, that-"

The tall man fully just shoves him now, sending the Adventurer toppling across the dirt, clumsily rolling and landing just past the other side of the carriage. A mother and young child who seem to be part of the traveling group simply stare down at him with empty blank gazes, wholly unconcerned about helping him up.

As the Adventurer fumbles back to his feet (still confused as to why he was even pushed in the first place), the tall man looms by the carriage, diligently watching to ensure that he leaves.

"Travel safe, stranger."

Despite his initial obliviousness, the Adventurer begins to piece the situation together as he stares back at the man, now fully convinced something suspicious might be going on...

…What should he do next??

~

~

~

Additional Information

the adventurer's current main quest: follow his map to reach the abandoned castle ruins and see the rare animal specialist about the mysterious egg he has

#paventure posting #poll #polls #choose your own adventure #ERM.. ... hee hee... yes.. alas.. it has been like two months since the last one lol #IT'S SUMMER!!!! how can anyone function in the summer..? It's literally 83F in my room indoors right now at this moment at NIGHT #I'm about to go to sleep.. who can sleep in an 80+ degree room comfortably?? ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh #Really no hope of productivity at all from like June - September basically... EVIL.. and also the spring this year had some heat waves so #AUGhh... my nemesis the Summer.. Or moreso capitalism is my nemesis for worsening climate change and also keeping people in such #economic inequality that cheap apartments with terrible ventilation get made and people cant afford air conditioners and etc. etc. #but ALSO... the summer... grrrr.. 'Heat' you will never be famous.. you will always be lame nasty and so forth.. #ANYWAY.. also sorry this is another blurb that's longer. The text is always longer when there's actually spoken interactions lol #I know I'm not very good at this style of writing (especially when rushing with these) so I always feel kind of awkward having really long #sections people will have to slog through or etc ghbjhjh but.. I don't really know how it make it shorter. the interaction #is just the interaction. certain things must be said and conveyed. peace and love on planet orth. #Ough it's been so long I almost forgot to draw his injuries lol.. in-world it's only been what like.. a day? since he got into a fight with #that mysterious cloaked person who was tracking him to steal the egg. I also always just forget how to draw him in between breaks #hopefully his hair and stuff doesn't look too different. They're meant to be really quick sketches anyway but still.. you at least want him #to be recognizable lol #ANYWAY.. another update from the Son.. what is he up to on his little traveles...

[princip1914]

I recut the kiss from Good Omens to emphasize Aziraphale kissing back. I already posted the longer version (yes, I have made alternate cuts of my kiss alternate cut, yes I know this is ridiculous) but I realized I liked it in shorter gif form better. After the cut is the OG kiss for comparison and some notes on my process.

Edited Kiss:

Original Kiss:

On the longer version, I had some people ask what I changed. Essentially, what stood out to me when I saw the original version of the kiss was that it was just so...choppy. Particularly, the cut right before they break apart where we go from Aziraphale's hand on Crowley's back to him waving it around in the air, just didn't look natural to me. The original version seems to splice together several takes of a shorter kiss, with some pieces of the kiss out of order from how it was probably acted:

In the first cut of the sequence we see Aziraphale from over Crowley's shoulder and his eyes are open and he looks shocked and uncomfortable, then he relaxes into the kiss a bit and closes his eyes and his hand comes up to Crowely's shoulder and caresses it. My guess is this is the sequence and duration of the kiss from start to (nearly) finish as it was blocked and acted. But the kiss as it appears in the show is much longer than the acted kiss. From that first cut of Aziraphale's face seen over Crowely's shoulder we go to:

A wide cut where Aziraphale is waving his arm in the air and looks uncomfortable--likely filmed at the start of the kiss from a different angle and then spliced in.

A close up of Aziraphale stroking Crowley's back which seems to me to come from the end of the kiss, once he has relaxed into it. (This is the one all the girlies are gif-ing and yeah, it's a great shot so I'm glad the fandom has gone wild for it!)

Another shot from the relaxed bit of the kiss which is a close up on their faces with Aziraphale leaning in a bit

The last shot of the kiss where Aziraphale's arm has come off Crowely's back again and he's waving it in the air and looking uncomfortable as Crowley pulls away. I think this shot may actually also be from the start of the kiss, or it is actually how the end of the kiss was blocked out, but if so there's a section of it that's missing because we don't see how Aziraphale's hand moves from Crowley's back (shot 3) to waving in the air. This isn't really a continuity error as presumably Aziraphale has been moving his hands around during shot 4 while the viewer was being treated to a close up of their faces, but it registers as a continuity error because the emotional vibe of shot 4 is Aziraphale starting to get into the kiss and lean in, while the hand off the back in shot 5 makes the viewer feel like he is pulling away and uncomfortable again.

In editing the sequence, I simply moved pieces around to try and tell a story that was more emotionally coherent, with Aziraphale starting shocked and uncomfortable, relaxing into the kiss slightly, and then stepping away. I chopped up the long sequence in shot 1 and used the relaxed part of it instead of the beginning of shot 5. I also switched shot 3 and 4 so that we see a wide cut where Aziraphale looks uncomfortable and his hand is visibly in the air, to a close up shot of their faces where he starts to get into it. Then we are in the home stretch with the tender hand on the back and then Aziraphale's face as he holds Crowley close to him (formerly the end of shot 1) before they break apart.

#aziraphale/crowely #good omens kiss #gos2 #gos2 spoilers #ineffable husbands #film edit #fan edit #fanvid #good omens gif #good omens kiss gif

[akanemnon]

ALRIGHT, over the last week I've been binge-reading this entire series from start to finish, and I've gotta say you've got me hooked. Love where it's going so far! With that in mind, I've got a couple questions I'm curious about. No worries if they're in spoiler-territory and can't be shared, though!

1: so, since Kris and Frisk can see UI elements like their inventory, does this mean they could see the save menu and its save data, too? And if so, did Kris learn anything of interest from it?

And 2: I stumbled across a past ask that mentioned Kris's player has a similarly playful gremlin disposition... Does this mean Kris basically had a mutual prank war going with them? Were there any particularly funny moments where they messed with each other for a joke? Because ngl the idea of Kris deciding to fight God and win via prank war is probably a lot funnier to me than it should be.

Hey, thank you so much! Super happy you're enjoying the comic so much!! As for your questions...

The two of them are definitely aware of their save files. At the start of Deltarune when you encounter your first save point you can actually see that Kris already has a save file that they created on their own. But you end up overwriting it with your name that you typed in during the vessel creation section. As for the menu interface thing, they probably see the whole layout in a kind of a daydream like setting. For when the Player turns of the game and does something else. It would be just a second for them, while in reality it is much longer.

Kris sees their Player as a (so far) benevolent bully. The Player hasn't made them do anything bad per se, but Kris is clearly reacting much stronger to having someone take control of their body. This is most likely due to actually having experienced a normal life before being possessed (unlike Frisk, who doesn't remember it). In the game you see them manipulating the Player's choices either by the tone of their voice, or how they sometimes look away or close their eyes when the Player wants to look at something that relates to their family. Kris has their own way with dealing with bullies. This is more apparent when you read through Noelle's secret blog posts that go deeper into how Susie used to try and bully them.

#ask #twin runes #kris dreemurr #frisk

[snek-panini]

Today I've got binderary book #3 to share! It's a lighthouse (burning) by books-and-omens. This is a really excellent canonverse (sort of) historical setting liminal ghost story-esque fic that I read practically in one sitting sometime last summer. It's fantastic, well-characterized, angsty and fluffy and fairly plotty and with some really unique worldbuilding. I honestly can't sing its praises enough; it's one of the only times since taking up this hobby that I've known I wanted to bind something before I actually finished reading it.

Have a look at the rest of the photos under the cut; this one came out really well and I'm in love with it.

For this cover we have lineco book cloth on the spine, a strip of chiyogami paper that I got in one one ChibiJay's random paper packs, and blue-gray sketch paper for the primary gray space. It's a little hard to tell in the photos but the HTV for the titles is in two different colors, silver for "a lighthouse" and pewter for "(burning)". The effect is more pronounced in person and I love it. The pewter came in a multi-pack of cricut foil HTV and I can't seem to find it on its own anywhere, which is a shame because it's beautiful. The sort of streaky effect on the cover was unintentional but I'm kinda liking it? It's a more porous paper for drawing or painting or something, and I tried to wax it for waterproofing, but when I used the heat press to get the title on the wax darkened in the spots where the glue was applied to the cover board. At first I was disappointed, but the fic features a really massive unnatural storm, and it sort of looks like water running down a windowpane, so I'm leaning into that and calling it an aesthetic. The back didn't get this heat treatment, so it doesn't have the pattern.

Top view, showing the bookmark and handmade end bands. The bookmark is a navy blue ribbon cut from the inside of a shirt, and I chose red and white because there are so many picturesque lighthouses that have red and white stripes. It's the only color in the book that's not blue or gray. The endpapers are a navy blue silk moire, and I had better luck with them than I did with the platinum ones on my Persuasion bind even though they are the same brand. Maybe it's practice or maybe navy just hides more sins than platinum.

For the title page I went fairly simple (for me anyway) with just a frame I pulled from rawpixel. It suits the story, though, being set sometime around or before the early 20th century. I also played with text colors on the title page, with some words being grayed out to mimic the effect on the cover. The section break is me getting clever with a feature of my printer. I often use a gray line to denote section breaks, but for whatever reason my printer doesn't like them and often makes them blurry. It is only these lines that come out blurry; larger images don't do this even if they are complex. So for this one, where a major feature of the story is trying to figure out what's real and what's a supernatural occurrence, I made one that was deliberately heavier in the center so it would come out sort of smoky or fuzzy, like it wasn't quite real and couldn't be clearly seen. It doesn't look this fuzzy in the unprinted file but I love the effect and I feel very clever for manipulating the printer like this.

I'm going to show off some interior shots but this bit contains spoilers for the story, so if you don't want to see that then maybe skip the rest of the post.

I wanted to get creative with my title placement since a lot of my binds look very similar inside, and this concept really let me try that out. The plot of the story is that the reason there are so many supernatural phenomena at this lighthouse is that someone in the future ran an experiment to harvest energy and accidentally cracked spacetime with it, and bits of the future and the past and the might-have-been are seeping through the cracks, and the longer the cracks exist the more seeps through them and the worse the ghostly stuff gets. At first it's not clear whether there's anything weird happening at all, and it becomes clearer that something is wrong the further in you get because the cracks are worse. So I had this idea for a vintage lighthouse illustration with an overlay of cracks in glass, that become more defined as the story progresses until something is done and they're sealed up in the end. I am not a visual artist and even this straightforward concept was too much for my skills, so I chose the lighthouse and the crack overlay and my amazing husband did the actual image manipulation. There are five different images, with the cracks invisible in the first and final chapter and most visible in chapter 10 and 11, when the characters are trying hardest to fix the problem. I'm really really proud of how well this turned out.

And that's it! I have several more binderary books to post but they are all still waiting for titles before I do the photos, so I don't know when I'll have them up.

#guys i love this book it came out so pretty #though it was a struggle at times #it got trimmed crooked and the gilding had to be scrapped and then the case was too small #so it actually got trimmed like 4 times #totally worth it though i mean look at it #everyone look at the cool thing i made #i'm so proud of it!! #bookbinding #fanbinding #snek makes books #good omens #fic rec

[liu-anhuaming]

all my mandarin dictionaries (and dictionary-adjacent books)

Through chatting with @don-dake and @cherrymintvampyyri, I've come to realize that I might own a less than normal number of Mandarin dictionaries. So, here's a post about all of them.

I do have two basic bilingual dictionaries (Mandarin/English): the Langenscheidt pocket dictionary and the DK visual dictionary. These are quite easy to buy and not that interesting imo, so I'm not gonna talk further about them.

I'm also going to include a couple books that aren't technically dictionaries, but are rather about etymology of characters, and that's close enough to count for me.

Okay, let's get on to the interesting stuff!

1. What Character is That? An Easy-Access Dictionary of 5,000 Chinese Characters by Ping-gam Go (second edition, 1995)

bilingual

This strange little dictionary was gifted to me by a nun who went to high school with my grandma and later lived in China as a missionary. It's organized alphabetically based on the English translation of each radical?

I have not used this dictionary for actual reference ever, because I flipped through it once and realized that it was absolutely whack. But it's cool to have I guess.

2. 新华字典 第11版

monolingual

This little guy was gifted to me by a Chinese classmate back when I was in college. It's a 字典, so it's just focused on defining individual characters and providing some words featuring that character. Despite being a mainland dictionary, it also has 注音 next to each character for some reason.

It's got some neat stuff towards the back, like the periodic table and a chart of all the 節氣 solar terms.

3. 小学生全笔顺 同义词 近义词 反义词 组词 造句 成语 多音多义字 词典

monolingual

Whew, that's a mouthful. This is an actual 词典, so it defines full words. It also provides example sentences, synonyms, antonyms, and close equivalents. Then there's a section for idioms, and another section for 多音多义字.

There's also this nifty little insert with examples of words/phrases that follow common patterns of repetition.

4. 新现代汉语词典

monolingual

I picked up this chunky guy from a used bookstore down the street from me (the owner of the store passed last year, and the store is no longer there unfortunately). This is a fairly normal dictionary, it's just bigger than my others and has more words listed in it.

One thing I also noticed is that this chart towards the end of the dictionary apparently had a strip of paper pasted on the bottom. It doesn't seem like something I can peel up without damaging the paper under it, and when I shine a flashlight through the page I can't make out any major differences between what's on the sticker and what might be on the page under it. So my best guess is there might have been some damage to the text on the page?

5. 商务馆学汉语近义词词典 The Commercial Press Guide to Chinese Synonyms

monolingual

This book is easily the one I reference the most. As the name suggests, the book is all about synonyms. It takes sets of 2+ similar words and thoroughly explains the similarities and differences between them all. There's plenty example sentences, with notes about whether the synonyms can be used interchangeably in certain contexts.

It's a great resource, but I had a bit of trouble getting my hands on a copy. It's possible that in the years since I bought it there have been more copies made available for sale though.

these next two are books I haven't explored too much since they are old and the binding is incredibly fragile and starting to fall apart. just opening them is stressful.

6. 漢字分解 Chinese Characters Explained by F.X. Keelan (aka 康愛玲修女) (1967?)

bilingual

This book was also gifted to me by the nun who went to school with my grandma, and appears to also have been written by a nun! Based on what I've found from Google, this book was published in 1967.

Rather than a dictionary, this book is "a compilation intended as an aid in grouping and remembering [Chinese characters] with a view in acquiring a reading knowledge of Chinese"(p. iii). It aims to break down characters into radicals and giving similar/related characters. It's apparently the final installment in a 4 part Mandarin Course.

This book uses traditional characters. According to Google Books, the publisher is 光啓出版社, which is a Taiwanese organization. The book includes a very long table that has Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Hakka, Japanese, and Korean pronunciations for (what seems to be) every character mentioned in the book. The intro mentions that this is so the course is more "accessible" for speakers of other East Asian languages.

Also, look at that printing error in the third photo! The text got cut off at the bottom of the page.

7. The Structure of Chinese Characters by John Chalmers (second edition, 1911)

bilingual

This final book is the oldest of the bunch, and was gifted to me by my boss's boss for some reason? She found it in a used bookstore apparently.

This book also uses traditional characters, because simplified characters just weren't a thing yet in 1911. This book is falling apart, and opening it stresses me out. It creaks whenever I open it.

Going by the title page, the full title of this book is An Account of the Structure of Chinese Characters Under 300 Primary Forms; After the Shwo-Wan, 100 A.D., and the Phonetic Shwoh-Wan, 1833. It was published by Kelly & Walsh, which was a Shanghai-based publisher.

Someone very kindly penciled in the years the author was alive: 1825-1899. John Chalmers was apparently a Scottish missionary (bc of course he was) who apparently popularized the term "Cantonese". This book that I own in particular was originally published in 1882.

It is, as the very long title suggests, an analysis and etymology of 300 common components

It also has a nifty fold-out of all 300 "primary forms" in seal script.

#chinese language #mandarin langblr #learn mandarin #learn chinese #books #mine #hope y'all enjoy this!

[randomlygeneratedusername2]

No one asked, but here's a vest tour! I've added a bunch since I last talked about it here, so here's the update!

Here's the full front and back

Most of this I made myself. The patches were mostly made by hand embroidery (anything machine done was probably given to me as a gift), with the exception of a couple that were just markers on white fabric.

Under the decorative patches is also a layer of random fabric patches, mostly from leftover projects scrap fabric, or old clothes I didn't know what to do with.

There's also some random paint splashes in green and red, and a ton of pop tabs and safety pins thrown around in empty spaces.

The pins I made were made from painted bottle caps, and held on with a pop tab and safety pin combo, with the edges of the bottle cap bent to hold it in place

The vest itself I got from a family member's friend, and said family member didn't want it. So she gave it to me to put patches on. I used it as a formal jacket for a year, but I didn't like how the sleeves felt, so I cut them off and ended up putting patches on it anyway. I've been working on this vest since last January, but many of the patches and stuff were transferred from my old jacket that I have other plans for, but that's for a different post.

Inside, plus the snack pouch

so much white embroidery floss, I'm surprised I'm still able to scrape up some in my embroidery floss drawer

Front top left (from the perspective of someone looking at me)

Gay frog pin is the only pin I own I paid for, I found all the rest for free from various events and also the library likes giving people free pins

Front top right

Got the Vulpix pin from some random lady at the empanada restaurant because she liked my nerdy jacket. A few months ago I reconnected with an old friend, who recognized the art style. So that's kinda neat

Front bottom left

I used to have the heart/brain patch sewn on an older jacket (that is no longer with us). I am never attempting to stick a needle through that thing again. Easily my most painful patch I own. Also a little keychain ring so I can clip stuff to my vest

Front bottom right

The worm's name is wormy, named by my friend who loves him. Wormy has been through a lot, and before finding a safe home on my vest, rotated between being a room decoration and a cat toy

The hotelier patch (the house on the pocket) is probably my favorite music based patch I've made. I spent way too much time on it, but I think it turned out nice in the end!

Back top

the trans flag section in the center is my favorite part. The peace was never an option patch is usually peoples favorite, and I get compliments on it regularly. It's hard to see, but the patch at the bottom left of the flag is the chemical formula for testosterone

Back bottom left

The QR code is a Rick roll, and also fully functional. When I made it, a picture of it was floating around between my friends between various group chats. I had one friend who tried to go to lengths to avoid getting tricked, until one of his friends sent him the picture, and he actually scanned it before realizing it's the QR code on my back. He was (jokingly) upset at me the next day. I want to make another qr code to a song I like more, but that one took longer than most my other patches do, so I'm not sure it's worth it.

Back bottom right

The Kos-mos patch (blue haired girl on left) is my favorite non music patch on here. It just feels like one of my most well made patches. Not much to say here, I just like the patch a lot

So yeah, that's my vest. No clue how many patches are actually on this, or how many hours I've put into this thing already, but it's probably a high number whatever it is.

If this gets at least 0.5 notes Ill talk about my other patch stuff, of which I've got a lot of.

#patches #battle jacket #embroidery #clothes #pins #diy #art #punk #emo

[sonkitty]

Crowley S2 Hair Post #1 Redone v2

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

This post was last updated 04/02/2024.

Take it all in.

Treasure it for all that it is.

Because you will never see this hairstyle this clearly on Crowley ever again, not even from different angles...unless there's a treat waiting for us in season 3. But otherwise, no, that's all we get of this gorgeous, gorgeous shot.

...

Sideburn Check

Before we see Crowley pull that newspaper down, we are given a profile view of his right side of his face and can see his right sideburn. This sideburn looks short but is a little longer than the shortness we'll eventually see is the intended shortness after driving the car for a long enough time.

Let's take a look:

Wow, that is really hard to tell, but I'm still going to go with thinking it is little longer.

So, why is it a little longer in this human space that is the park?

Theoretically, it's a combination of factors that add up to Crowley making that newspaper his own personal door to manage his own personal space. I'll cover that more in the Earthly Objects section. It might also help that this human space is a more familiar one to him.

Two characters are going to show up, at different times, and there will be no interaction from him to them until he has deliberately pulled the newspaper down from his face. That is to say, he passes through his designated threshold to talk to them.

Once the newspaper goes down, we'll see the sideburns some more. They will look similar in length. It's hard to be sure due to the angles and expressions on his face.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

In our initial view of Crowley, we can't see the streak. Once the newspaper goes down, it will become evident. That means we have to be suspicious of the fact that we didn't get to see it at the start of the scene because this story lies. Repeatedly. Something is amiss with its chronology. There is possibly a book somewhere in here and a lot of games messing with our heads.

There is a weird blocking and blurring thing happening all the time in GO2, and it's really overt in this scene. Basically, Crowley's right profile view from the side of the bench is going to just keep being blurry, so that we still can't really see the streak in those particular shots.

Otherwise, on the more clear front or other angled shots, it's more clear the brighter red streak is there.

Hairstyle Changes

Crowley's hairstyle changes frequently during GO2. It will even change in really subtle ways during scenes, such that I simply cannot catch every style. The style when Crowley pulls down the newspaper for the first time is actually something like in between the first shot we see with the profile view and then another shot after it when Shax arrives. You probably won't catch that if you aren't trying. I missed it when I was first studying this stuff some months ago.

Far more subtle, and admittedly iffy—I could just be seeing what I want to see—but to me, it looks like the initial right profile shot has a more obvious gradient. The hair towards the bottom matches his season 1 color better and gets brighter up until the top. The after-pushing-newspaper-down style has a gradient, but there is even less of the season 1 color on the bottom area, as if the hair itself is transforming into its new season 2 state. Here's a comparison view if you wish to decide for yourself:

Here's the original collection I made from this scene before realizing the first style at least is different:

Now with streaks indicators too:

So with all of the above in mind, I reached the following conclusions back when first trying to figure out the hair generally...

(1) Crowley's hair is now a brighter red than season 1, including season 1 present day and season 1 flashbacks.

(2) There is yet an even brighter, more saturated, streak of red hair above his left eye.

(3) His sideburns are longer than they were in season 1. At this point, we have no comparison to season 2 present day, but they are going to get both longer and shorter than what is seen here in this same episode.

(4) In this scene, the hair is lighter and more saturated on his left side; it is darker on his right side. For episode 1 at least, in my past notes, that was standard for most of it.

(5) I can't tell you what the top style is telling us about Crowley's mood, but it does seem to do that, at least sometimes. I'll point out if I think I notice it at times later.

(6) The left sideburn does not have as much hair as the right sideburn. Just as the color of the hair is lighter on the left, it seems the left sideburn is supposed to be "lighter" than the right through that way. That seems to be the more frequent way these things work, but it does sometimes switch.

...

Earthly Objects

For Earthly Objects, one of the reasons "earthly" is specified in the name of the game is touches can depend on how an object is used on Earth, instead of just limiting things to tangible objects and physical touches. For example, looking through a window is an earthly object touch because people look through windows to see things on Earth.

Next, I am going to talk about pockets, so this part is going to get ridiculous. You might want to skip down to the next "..." if my saying the newspaper is like a personal little door for Crowley was enough. My understanding of pockets is limited, but I'll share that limited understanding nonetheless.

Before we get to a lovely right profile view of Crowley, there's lens flare rainbow stuff!

Pockets love rainbows combined with Crowley. We can blame Elvis Presley and his song, "A Pocketful of Rainbows". The most noticeable and seemingly official rainbow, in my opinion, is the one right before Crowley himself appears in the cut. I have indeed, checked frame by frame, to see that technically it has not fully disappeared once Crowley himself is visible. It's really close though!

Okay, back to when we get a closer view of Crowley on his initial profile view.

Crowley has his back to the bench. He has his elbow on the arm rest. He has his line of sight directed at the newspaper as if reading it. Those are 3 possible earthly object touches right there. Crowley is holding the back of the newspaper with only two visible fingers. They are the index finger and the middle finger. Only the index finger is showing its tip. That's not enough to receive credit for touching the newspaper physically as an earthly object yet. He'll get that later, when he wants it done. The other two partly visible fingers on the front are probably significant as well.

For the record, I do not like talking about the pockets as frequently or to the extent that I do. I talk about them because I've noticed they are important. They irk me because they are the hardest part of these games for me, at the present moment. I am downright incapable of solving The Pocket Trick to my own satisfaction. A key mechanic in that Trick is the use of word play. Another is to use one's imagination.

One of the first things to know here about Crowley's super advanced play in Earthly Objects and pockets is that his tie strands are connected to his hands because they are his Tied Hands. It's actually really funny when it sinks in, but it does make the game so, so hard. These silly cute Tied Hands have thumbs. The thumbs are the tassels, so the tips of those tassels are the thumb tips.

Thumb tips matter for Door Mode.

Due to Crowley's posture, there is a pocket between his right arm and the bench itself. His right jacket sleeve is open enough that there is yet another evident pocket existing between his shirt sleeve and his jacket sleeve. This pocket is the key one of interest to me because the newspaper touches it. Even so, there is still another pocket formed between the newspaper, Crowley's right hand, and his clothing that the newspaper touches so long as a breeze isn't messing with it.

Those tassel tips I mentioned earlier...are on his pants. That's why I'm spending so much time on this part by the way. There's some metal thing sticking out that only ever sticks out here touching the vest. The belt is his Belt Head, which the vest does like to touch at other times. So, if this metal is somehow the buckle from the belt—since I can't see it being the tie or anything else, that's probably supposed to be its "tongue" while the other visible part of the snake on the belt is pocketed between the vest tips. Based on how the game plays itself, the Belt Head is helping the Tied Hands in ways beyond my comprehension, so Crowley can take advantage of pockets. What? Do they need belt assistance to be tied because he's sitting down and the watch is not on screen? Somewhere in here is Door Mode on the clothing, channeling its way through pocket imagination powers, so that all of the apparel can work together and give Crowley his newspaper door.

Apparently, this method requires the watch to not be visibly on screen for now. I really want to know what the watch's job is for silly pocket mechanics.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Check out the self-made pocket of hair since we have an active Belt Head messing with things:

Yeah, sure, could be nothing, but The Pocket Trick is really, really intentional about these types of things, and even though this scene is not one of the touches in The Pocket Trick, pockets are still relevant. I mainly suspect such things because of those tassel tips.

Even some of his hair is pocketing the collar of his jacket. The profile shot is so precise, none of the left part of his sunglasses can be seen.

While we're at it, Crowley's sitting really still. He'll be standing really still later in episode 6 with a more obvious pocket touch for The Door Trick. Said Trick is another big part of why I'm noting so much about the pockets by the way. It also has a self-made pocket of hair visible in the first cut.

Okay, that's enough about pockets. Finally! They'll be mentioned later but not to this extent.

...

During the scene after Shax shows up, Crowley's going to touch some mail. We'll see his shoes on the ground at one point. A notable earthly object touch is the first one he gets when Shax shows up after he pulls the newspaper down. He's going to see himself in the mirror. Crowley does not see the way humans see most of the time. He senses with his eyes. But a mirror's actual literal function on Earth is generally to look at yourself, or something of interest.

One of the ways Crowley can and does see is if someone—or something, is deliberately showing him an earthly object. So, by Shax holding the mirror and Crowley intentionally looking at it, with its general actual function, he theoretically sees himself.

That's helpful to him because based on his actions during the story, he doesn't sense that the sideburns themselves have changed length when they do, even if he's using them to manage his space. He checks by looking in the mirror if possible and necessary, notably in his car. Catching when he might be looking at all is harder than this one part of this one scene. He is quite subtle about it. This game wants people to look closely to catch these types of things as they play and interpret the story.

The cut between Crowley holding the newspaper in profile view and pushing it down has him holding the newspaper differently with his fingers. That could be a suspicious chronology edit or it could be Crowley testing/managing the bounds of his created space or both.

...

You can see some of the sky and dark parts of trees reflected in Crowley's sunglasses. I consider that significant because it's a clue among several others that great care is taken to what is and is not reflected in his sunglasses during this story. You can find out more about why I think that's important here: The Window Trick Visual Representation.

...

Story Commentary

I don't know what the stillness does, but I suspect it is relevant because of how still Crowley is near the end of episode 6 when standing by the door to the car. My overall guess has been that it helps Crowley be sensed or seen since humans often don't actually approach him with the exception of Nina later. However, one human approaches him here before Shax will later arrive.

Due to how I play these games, Crowley's seeming listlessness here actually strikes me as more of a strategic move than what it looks like on the surface. He has his saturated streak. He has his sideburns. He had his newspaper door. He's messing with pockets without even putting actual hands in pants pockets yet. There was a rainbow. This sneaky snake is up to a lot, and he's hiding the extent of what that is from Shax and whoever else is reading him in the story.

When Crowley leaves, he will pass by Shax with him in the background. He is blurred, and there's something gold around where he's holding the newspaper, that is presumably his bills. After he passes Shax, you can't see the presumed bills anymore. Due to the angle? In this story, I'm skeptical, but yeah, could be. Crowley's going to be conveniently obscured many times throughout the season.

Based on this timeline rundown post, this scene could easily be out of order from the presented story. The sunlight and rainbow stuff is too confusing for me to understand in trying to figure out the time, but I think the idea this scene takes place out of order is a good, valid one. The basis from that post is the chimes I didn't notice on my own and wouldn't even know what they mean if I had noticed.

Not only that, in my watching the scene repeatedly to try and figure out what pocket mischief Crowley's up to next, I noticed the tie strands keep just swapping what side of the vest they are on in different cuts with no indication he moved to make them do that. It's not every cut, but it happens. He's a demon, so he could just do that because he wants to, of course.

The scene has ducks and some other birds. While some birds do appear when Crowley makes it rain in episode 3, animals are otherwise rather lacking in appearance once closer to Whickber Street and wherever Crowley parks his car when it's isolated.

The scene is nicely lit, thanks to the sunlight. We actually aren't going to see Crowley's hair this well lit for quite a bit of the story due to the other settings, especially the dimly lit bookshop.

That's it for this post. Way back when I started to track these things, I did have a tendency to update even these posts, so that could happen again, just FYI.

...

Past versions of this post:

Post #1 (meeting with Shax in St. James' Park)

Post #1 with mistake

...

Project inspired by these posts:

Crowley’s Sideburns & what do they mean?

Ok, I love this theory that it could be some sort ...

#crowley #david tennant #good omens 2 #good omens #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens crowley #crowley good omens #good omens theories #crowley sideburns

[strangemaleswaps]

Strange Grocery Store Swap

My boyfriend Luis and I were doing some shopping at the local grocery store. There wasn't a cloud in the sky when we walked in but soon a downpour started, judging by the sound of pouring rain and thunder. My name is Collin, and I was an average twink at 20 years old; nothing really too special; I'm a nice guy, I guess. I care about my appearance enough that I try, but don't put too much effort into it. I usually comb my hair in a side swept fashion because it's easy. Luis, who's 22, loves rocking the bad boy look and never goes anywhere without his Doc Martens. He's the type that never puts up with anybody's shit, because he knows that one look is enough to scare them away. There are a lot of trashy assholes in the town we live in, so it's a nice thing to have.

So we were walking down the pasta aisle about to pick up a box of macaroni and cheese, when a loud sound erupted from outside followed by a flash seen inside. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the power going out in the entire store.

When I woke up, the power was restored but I heard shrieks coming from the other end of the store. I also noticed that I was no longer in the pasta aisle, but in the pet food section. I don't even own a pet, what would I be doing here? I was sitting on the floor and noticed my back seemed really tense. I must've fallen down when I fainted but my back shouldn't be hurting this much! It was then that I looked down and noticed something horribly wrong. My arms were all full of gray hairs and my hands were all wrinkly! I was wearing different clothes too - a polo shirt, even though I hate that style! I got up on my feet and felt groggier than usual too. I then noticed my face felt a little itchy and I went to scratch my beard...wait I have a beard! What's going on here? I reached up to touch my hair and as I combed through, I found a huge bald spot! This is crazy! I'm not old! What is my boyfriend going to think? I knew I had to see what I truly looked like so I headed towards the restroom passing through multiple people that were walking around seemingly confused. I looked in the mirror and saw the face of an old man that wasn't me...well it is me now! I made faces in the mirror, reassuring myself that this is me.

I decided to take off my shirt to see the rest of the damage. This is insane! I'm in an old man's body! That shirt really contained all this wrinkly, saggy skin well because it all hangs out when you take it off. My skin jiggled slightly as I felt around. I ran my hands through the gray chest hairs feeling tickled by every strand. It was then that I noticed I was getting hard. I'm surprised how quickly it happened. Don't old guys have ED or something? I walked into a stall, pulled down my pants to find a thick hard and veiny cock. Oh yeah. I could see my balls were wrinkly and droopy, which actually aroused me even more! I started jerking while rubbing my nipples that sagged a bit from the pair of small moobs I now owned, grazing my hot fuckin silver daddy chest hairs. Fuck. I rubbed my balding head as I continued to jerk. I would've finished by now if I wasn't an old man, but I didn't care. I wanted this moment to last forever. I scratched my beard and finally started to cum. It splattered everywhere, hitting the stall door as I wallowed in euphoria. Fuck, that was great.

As the post nut clarity kicked in, I put my clothes back on, washed my hands and suddenly realized something, I needed to find my boyfriend! I'm guessing everyone in the store was body-swapped when the lighting struck so he had to be in here somewhere. As I walked out of the restroom, I heard lots of people shouting. Compared to the terror shrieks from earlier, these sounded like conversing. I heard people shouting out others names until I found a large crowd of people, all of which were holding signs with names on them. In the middle was a table set up with large pieces of construction paper and markers. I get it now; people are writing down their names in hopes of finding the people they were with. I decided to do the same. I wrote down "Collin Matthews" in big letters on the paper and held it up high. I called out my boyfriend's name as well.

"Luis Baron! Luis Baron! Where are you?" I called for a few minutes Soon enough I was starting to lose hope. What if he's not here somehow? What if the swap failed or something and he died? I started to bring down the sign in defeat until I heard a deep voice behind me.

"Collin?"

I turned around to find a big guy in his late 20s smile at me. He was wearing thick framed glasses and a baseball cap. I could see a bit of his gut hang out from under his tanktop, which rested itself over his blue basketball shorts. He tried to tuck it in when he noticed I was looking down.

"Is that really you Luis?" I made eye contact with him.

"It's me all right." I believed him, but I noticed the tough guy tone in his voice was gone, and not just because it was a different voice entirely. It sounded doubtful and weak. "Man, you're like 70!"

"I know! I was disgusted at first but then I realized it's actually pretty hot."

I scratched my beard and glanced down at his gut once again. I can't believe it! My boyfriend is a fat guy! I've never dated anyone this big before so I'm actually turned on, even after I just finished. When I looked back up, I could see the rage on his face.

"Hey stop looking down at my belly! How do you think I feel being forced to be this fat loser? I can't even stop my gut from poking out. It's disgusting!" As he tried to tuck in his gut once more, his whole body jiggled. I could feel myself getting hard once again. Luis looked down and noticed my bulge.

"Wait, you're turned on?"

"Yep." His whole mood seemed to change and he began to smirk.

"Hey do you wanna...try a once in a lifetime experience?" My cock began to stiffen even more.

"I'm listening..."

"Well...I found keys and an address listed on this guy's driver's license. What do you say we send a text to our old numbers...after we have a little fun." I gave a devilish smile as I stroked my balding head and scratched my beard.

#strangemaleswaps #body swap #male body swap #male tf #young to old

[simdertalia]

hey i wanted to ask what happened with the big set of monster high dolls, i wanted to download but it looks like the link is dead :(

Hi skeleton-mochi! Yes, I just became aware of this issue a couple of days ago. I came across one myself when cross-referencing a CC object in another post, so I fixed it. Then I got a message about another one the next day. I started scrolling back and saw all older posts past a certain date were missing the link formatting.

What I know so far: It is a Tumblr website issue. I'm currently going back post by post and adding the actual link text to the download section instead of a hyperlink, so that it may be copy/pasted if the link isn't clickable. I've gone back and fixed the Monster High sets for you right now so you can get to the downloads:

I've also contacted Tumblr Support about this issue, it seems that I'm not the only person experiencing this, and it seems to be affecting posts starting sometime last July going back on my archive page. It also seems that it's only happening to the links that go to SFS and Mega. Links to Patreon, Ko-Fi, Instagram, and other Tumblr posts still work fine (so weird.) They've replied to me asking for screenshots of the issue, so I've given them as much information as I can and I've made a post about it: https://simdertalia.tumblr.com/post/741537674540793856/recently-i-was-alerted-that-some-of-the-links-on

Anyone else that went to download something here and the link is no longer clickable, please DM or send an Ask and I will fix it immediately.

As mentioned, I *am* going back on the posts one by one and fixing the links. But if there is something specific anyone wants, I don't want you to have to wait 💗

#sims 4 community #tumblr issue #big tumblr issue #links disappearing #link formatting disappearing #seems to have started last july (2023)

[spider-socorro-stan]

Avatar 3 script leaks

Potential spoilers ahead! If you don't want to know anything about Avatar 3, this is not the post for you. And for those of you who have seen the leaks, this is not new info, I'm like super late with this, I'm just trying to compile all the script pages into one post. Plus there is one page that I feel like has not been discussed enough, hence this post.

Spoilers under the read more, you have been warned!

Okay, first of all, yes, I'm well aware the script leaks might be fake to throw us off, or at the very least no longer true because some rewrites have happened. I get it. But, in this post, I will treat them as an accidental leak, so bear with me.

I think most of you are now aware of the first two pages, I have seen a lot of posts with them, so I'm not gonna dwell too much on those. Here are the transcripts, by reddit user hdk759:

Another reddit user, Ereska, was able to transcribe a little bit more from the second page, so combined, these two pretty much give us the whole page:

Right, so Jake and Quaritch have a little talk about Spider, who can now breathe Pandoran air, and for once these two are not actively trying to kill each other, so that's pretty interesting. What is also interesting is that all the kids are also supposedly there, when they rush to a wounded Neytiri (and on that note, where has she been? Who was she fighting?). Neytiri hugs her kids (excluding Spider, might I point out), then we cut to them all returning to High Camp where Tuk and Mo'at hug. And we have seen that scene in the behind the scenes footage, which is another reason why I really don't think the script is fake.

Note: Avatar Theory also did a video on these script leaks and in the comment section someone mentioned Va'ru is an old name for Tarsem, the new chief of the Omatikaya. So it's not a new character, just good old Tarsem, very wise for his young age :)

Onto pages 3 and 4!

These are sadly harder to read, since a lot of the text is covered, but a twitter user AkumuHoshi did their best to transcribe them too:

There's a lot of stuff missing, but I found this screenshot from reddit user BentusFr which is in pretty high definition and you can read more of the text there:

So we start off with Jake and Neytiri in a Biolab in High camp, looking at Spider, who's probably being looked at by the scientists. Jake talks about how Spider is now in danger and can't stay there, because he will become RDA's target if they find out he can breathe the air, and then Neytiri suggests: "If he is so dangerous [text hidden], you should just kill him." Cool cool cool. Guess she ain't warming up to Spider anytime soon. Jake, understandably, does not like that idea, to which Neytiri replies: "Toruk Makto knows [blurred text, but to me it seems like duty? I dunno, it's one short word, that one made the most sense to me.]"

The rest of the text is too hidden to make much sense of, but we do cut to a different scene - the Tree of Souls. Kiri is trying to connect to Eywa, but gets another seizure and Mo'at has to disconnect her from the tree. And then we have a scene with Mo'at and Kiri, where we find out it was Kiri who made it possible for Spider to breathe the air, and she did so without any sacred trees nearby, she just made the roots to obey her and performed the miracle. She doesn't remember actually doing it, but Mo'at tells her she knows in her heart, and Kiri admits she did it herself. Mo'at then warns her to tell no one about it.

So here's what I want to know, were Kiri and Spider the only ones included in that miracle, or was Jake and the kids, possibly even Quaritch, there to see it? Remember, on the first script page, Jake tells Quaritch "You witnessed it tonight." and then a "long night of horrors and miracles" is mentioned on the second page. So who all knows what Kiri did? Who is Mo'at trying to protect her from?

And finally, we get to the last somewhat readable page, there is still one more that is unfortunately too blurry to be readable, at least I never saw any mention of anything else happening. So, page 5 it is!

I have no idea when the scene on that page happens, could be before the events on the first four script pages we have seen here, could be after. Personally, I think it's before. But it's just a guess. Here's the previous screenshot by BentusFr cropped and rotated to get a better look at it:

As far as I know, nobody has transcribed the text, and it does get more blurry as it goes, but the beginning is somewhat readable, so here's my best attempt at transcribing it:

VARANG WILLS Quaritch's arm to [text hidden] bulging, as his HAND OPENS and he [text hidden]

WAINFLEET takes a [text too blurry for me to read] untangling his head and arms, [can't read this one] He drops two WILD [blurry and hidden text] slams into the first na'vi to him [hidden text]

Another BOLO entangles his legs and [hidden text]

Honestly, from this point the text becoms too blurry for me to read, I do recognise a word here or there, but can't really make out a sentence from that. However, JAKE is mentioned in the next paragraph, so he's probably also there. Varang also goes on to have a bunch of lines that I sadly can't read. But if any of you can make sense of this text, by all means, feel free to let me know!

So it appears Quaritch and Wainfleet (and possibly Jake) get captured by the Ash Na'vi led by Varang. And somehow, Varang is able to control Quaritch's hand. Tsaheylu, anyone? Though probably not very consensual. But the idea of Ash people being willing to use their kuru for taking control of their enemies is quite interesting, and also really disturbing. And barely anyone talks about this! (And yes, I did make this whole post because of this one snippet of script, sue me.)

So why do I think this scene happens before the whole Spider can breathe Pandoran air miracle? The leaked image from Jon Landau's video. You know, this one:

Here's Quaritch talking to Varang, still in his RDA military gear, with Spider, Lo'ak and either Kiri or Tsireya (probably Kiri) being held by the Ash na'vi in the background.

What if this is what leads to Wainfleet showing up to help Quaritch, and Jake and probably Neytiri (and other Omatikaya) coming in to save their kids, they fight with Ash na'vi, Neytiri stays behind which might be when she gets injured, while Jake and Quaritch get the kids out of there. And maybe, somewhere along the line, Spider's mask gets broken, they don't have a spare, he starts suffocating and Kiri saves him.

So yeah. That's my take on it. Thoughts?

#avatar 3 #avatar 3 spoilers #avatar spoilers #avatar 3 script leaks #script leaks #avatar #meta #jake sully #neytiri #kiri #mo'at #spider soccoro #quaritch #recom quaritch #varang #ash people #ash na'vi

[kurolini909]

About me!

This might be sudden, but I'm working on a Master Post and thought to include this section. ^^

Who am I?

Hello everyone, I'm Kurolini909! An artist, character creator, aspiring designer, writer and storytelling enthusiast!

Nickname/URL;

My current URL (Kurolini909) is an extension of my former one (Kuro909), which was based on a cat character from an anime I enjoyed when younger!

I decided to extend it so that it would be a bit less generic. The current one plays a little with the letters and sound of my actual name which I will not be revealing. The numeral does not have any particular meaning.

Former Online Presence;

I was originally better known as an Undertale content creator, though I'm attempting to deviate from that now. I still love the game and fandom, but I want to explore different medias and also develop a bit on original projects and pieces!

Undertale was the very first major fandom I actually joined - I had experience with the Warrior Cats fandom before that, but not in regards to actually producing content - back when I was a pre-teen. I immediately fell into the shipchildren and Alternate Universes corner of the community, and assumed that was just what you were supposed to do over there.

I created a few ship children, but no longer feel attracted by that niche in fandoms and am more inclined to make OCs within the universe unrelated at all to actual characters, or just Original Characters altogether. It is unlikely I'll create anything similar again. I very much love the personas I came up with and developed in that time though, and they might be repurposed into their own separate things at some point.

Additionally, the people I met through creating these characters and participating in that part of the fandom are all lovely and incredibly talented. I made a ton of remarkable friends I don't think I would have interacted with otherwise, so I'm quite fond of that period!

My Current Content;

Currently, I find that I'm happier not restraining myself to one specific content type anymore. I will post whatever I'm in the mood for, which I'm hoping will bring a lot more variety into the blog.

I'm prone to hyperfixations, and the likeability is that my content will come in waves of whatever media I'm inclined to at a time. I do not, however, make any commitments to stay posting that in the long term. As I said, my content will vary according to my current interest.

Interests;

When I enter a fandom, I rarely actually leave it.

I think everything I ever liked just sort of goes dormant for a while to give way to newer interests until nostalgia peeks my attention back to it, so I thought it was worth mentioning some of the media I enjoyed consuming and creating content for, and still do from time to time!

Transformers (several continuities, mostly Prime and MTMTE), Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pokémon, The Dragon Prince, Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss, Good Omens, Warrior Cats, Books (generalized), The Owl House, Five Nights At Freddy's, Hollow Knight, Animes and cartoons (generalized).

I believe that's it!

I'll be making a couple more text posts like this one to add to that Master Post I was talking about, but for this one, thanks for sticking around! ^^

#kurolini909 #text post #about me #for my masterpost

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Andrew Doyle asks: Remember when the pride flag made sense?

Remember when the pride flag made sense?

It was designed by an American Artist called Gilbert Baker in 1978. It was originally an eight-stripe rainbow but was soon refined into the six-striped version that was the norm for many decades.

At a time when gay people couldn't hold hands with their partners on the street, this flag served a useful purpose. It meant that you could easily find gay pubs or other places where no one had to pretend to be something they weren't. The rainbow symbol was a simple and effective concept that conveyed positivity and unity.

And then some activists came along and said hang on a minute, why are there no black or brown stripes in the rainbow flag? See, for some reason they were under the impression that the gay flag was a literal representation of the range of skin colors that are acceptable in the community. And so we got this.

Okay then, I mean, well, there weren't any white stripes in the original one either. But most people understood that it was symbolic with that we were all included already, irrespective of our race.

But then after this, trans activists came along and said, why aren't we in there? So we got this one. And this was the chevron with the pink white and blue, which was based on the trans flag.

But surely this eyesore couldn't get any worse, could it? Well, it could, because activists were then concerned that it was excluding intersex people, so they added this symbol.

Okay, it's getting a bit out of control now. But then last year, some bright spark added a red umbrella to represent sex workers.

Now, if you thought this was getting out of hand, last year then we had Microsoft. They designed a new version to incorporate all the other multiple sexualities and genders that have been invented over the past few years. Let's have a look at that.

I mean, what the hell is it? It looks like a space ship going at warp speed through a Care Bear's bum hole.

Identity politics in its current form is an ever expanding beast. Pride used to be just one day. Then it was a month. And now Pride events have been scheduled all the way from March through to September. As one sign in a shoe shop pointed out Pride never stops. If only it would.

The initialism as well that's expanded too. First we had LGB, and then it became LGBT, then LGBTQ, then LGBTQIA. The Canadian government currently favors 2SLGBTQIA+, although even its prime minister finds that a bit of a mouthful.

Similarly, Pride started out as an important protest against injustice. When the original Pride March took place in London in 1972, homosexuality had only been legal for five years, and the prospect of gay marriage or even an equal age of consent, seemed impossible. Only 2000 people turned up to these protests.

But by contrast, the Pride parade in London in 2022 attracted over a million. And of course, most of those people aren't even gay. It's become a family day out, a huge party.

And what's so wrong with that, you might ask. And that's a fair question. If people are celebrating and having a good time, that's great. Except that's not necessarily what's going. Increasingly, gay people no longer feel welcome at Pride. I spoke to a representative from a lesbian group on this show last year who had been moved along by police when trying to protest at Pride. But isn't Pride meant to be a protest, not a party? What's going on?

The answer is that pride has been hijacked not once but twice.

First by avaricious multi-billion dollar corporations who are able to pose as virtuous by posting the pride flag. Only, they don't do it in the branches in countries where homosexuality is still illegal. After all, you wouldn't want to fly the flag anywhere which might actually make a difference.

I'm old enough to remember that corporations were certainly not celebrating Pride quite so openly before section 28 was repealed in 2003, or before the age of consent was equalized in 2001, or before the decriminalization of homosexuality in Scotland in 1980. So, these corporations' commitment to LGBT rights apparently only manifests itself when it's likely to make them a profit.

And then there's the second hijacking. See, whereas the original Pride was about agitating for equal rights for gay people, it's now been taken over by activists who are obsessed with group identity and who believe that gender is more important than sex.

That's why the British library, to celebrate the advent of pride month this week, posted a thread on Twitter about the sex life of fish, and how some species have been known to change from male to female.

I mean, what's that got to do with Pride? Why have Librarians seemingly forgotten that human beings aren't the same as fish? Now, they've since deleted those tweets, because well, you know they're bonkers. And although we might laugh at that kind of nonsense, the ideology it promotes is actually rather sinister, particularly for gay people.

See, in her book, "Time to Think" by Hannah Barnes, she found that between 80 and 90% of adolescents referred to the Tavistock pediatric gender clinic were same-sex attracted. Studies have long confirmed a correlation between gender non-conformity in youth, and homosexuality in later life. At the Tavistock, staff used to joke that "soon there would be no gay people left." Somehow the medicalization and sterilization of gay people has been reframed as progressive.

Even Stonewall, the UK's foremost LGBT charity has redefined the word "homosexual" on its website and promotional materials to mean "same gender attracted." Its CEO, Nancy Kelly, has claimed that women who exclude trans people from their dating pool are akin to sexual racists. There's been an intense resurgence of old homophobic tropes online from gender ideologues that believe that "genital preferences are transphobic" and that lesbians who don't include men in their dating pool must be suffering from trauma.

Gay rights were secured by recognizing that a minority of people are instinctively attracted to members of their own sex. And the new ideology of gender identity rejects this notion entirely, and actively shames gay people for their orientation.

So, when you see this flag, try to understand that many gay people consider it to be a symbol of opposition to gay rights, Women who are concerned about their rights consider it a symbol of misogyny, because it promotes an ideology that denies the reality of sex-based oppression, and yet most people, gay people included, haven't even noticed this transition from the pro-gay rainbow flag to this anti-gay imposter.

And that's because it all happened so quickly, and activists are playing on good intentions of a public who don't want to be seen to be on the wrong side of history. Well, I would suggest that upholding the rights of women and gay people and protecting gender non-conforming children and opposing the hypocrisy of corporations is the truly progressive approach.

Anyone who spends any time on social media would have seen that homophobia is clearly on the rise. It's coming from the reactionary elements of the right, who are now holding gay people responsible for sexualized drag shows for children, and the proliferation of sexually explicit books in school libraries. But of course, they've fallen for the trick. This isn't gay people. That's gender ideologues who've convinced everyone that the LGBTQIA+ movement is one big happy family, when it isn't.

And we know this because homophobia is also on the rise among gender ideologues themselves, who frequently go online to tell gay people to kill themselves. Some of them have said that they celebrate AIDS as a good thing. And this isn't just a few mad activists, there are thousands of examples of this if you've got the stomach to look them up.

So whether it's coming from those who consider themselves right wing or left-wing, anti-gay sentiments are back in fashion. And the best way to combat this is to remind everyone that that Progress Pride flag, and the corporate orgy that accompanies it, is not in the interests of gay people.

And if it's too late to reclaim the original Pride flag, we can at least ditch the new one.

#Andrew Doyle #Pride month #pride flag #rainbow flag #progress pride flag #ideological takeover #impostor #anti gay #homophobia 2.0 #woke homophobia #gender ideology #queer theory #same sex attraction #gay rights #religion is a mental illness

[rainbowsky]

Hi. I'm your new follower & new 🐢 . I want to say thank you for all your hardwork & comforting yet realistic words (which I really enjoy reading). You didn't sugarcoat your words & help me to see things from new perspective. I just want to ask about this photo- xiao zhan in water. Is this the official photo uploaded by zhan ge?

I read somewhere that there is a hidden photo of xz & wyb from ddu days in the photo. I just noticed that. I'm not sure if the hidden photo is matching or not but one thing- no matter how many times I look at this photo, I'll notice right away the circle part. Suddenly this part becomes so obvious to me that I can no longer ignore it. Am I only seeing things? Am I overthinking?

What do you think?

Thanks for reading this.

The suspected hidden photo from ddu:

Hi new turtle! 💛🐢💛

Thanks so much for your kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying my blog! 😊

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

I do not tend to go in for this type of candy. It's a bit galaxy 🤡 brain for me. But let's take a look.

Yes, this is a real photo uploaded to the Xiao Zhan Studio account on 3 July.

The relevant section of the image, taken straight from the XZ Studio post and enlarged to 300%, no other alterations made.

Arguments in favor of this being real and intentional:

I do believe that GG hides things sometimes in his art and images. He's sneaky and seems to enjoy messing with people and giving them something to ponder (possibly including DD, who is likely the real target for most of this stuff). A good example of this is his ideal life painting, which most turtles know and love.

GG used to work professionally as a graphic designer. He's highly skilled in Photoshop and perfectly capable of creating something that leaves the right degree of doubt/plausible deniability.

Given the current climate it is harder to get away with dropping candies. This is the sort of thing that's pretty safe to do. It's totally harmless and not something that will go on hot search or be noticed by passersby, and those who believe in it will be dismissed as crazy even by some other turtles, let alone passersby.

Those ripples look 'wrong'. Regardless of whether it's the result of an optical illusion or intentional manipulation, there is something unnatural about the appearance of the ripples/reflections/shadows in that area.

Arguments in favor of this being imagined:

The image definitely doesn't match the DDU one turtles are claiming was used. Assuming this is two people talking, the heads are positioned entirely differently, and the clothing isn't the same. (That doesn't mean it can't be some other image, but using an image that doesn't match definitely weakens the credibility of this).

There's not really much point in doing this. It doesn't serve much of a purpose beyond entertaining the few turtles who buy it.

Humans are somewhat hardwired to see patterns in things that are otherwise neutral or meaningless. The phenomenon is called pareidolia. I would imagine it's even more likely to happen in situations where people are actively looking for patterns, as many turtles do whenever something new is posted.

Pareidolia in Iceland: elephant rock.

This isn't the first time turtles have seen 'hidden photos' in posts from GG.

Last year turtles claimed to see a photo of DD as LWJ in the ripples of a photo of him in a swimming pool. I was too busy looking at his leg hair legs to notice.

The relevant section of the image, taken straight from the XZ Studio post and enlarged to 300%, no other alterations made.

The shape some turtles believe is hidden in the image.

There is another ancient CPN about a photo supposedly hidden in one of GG's art posts.

(Sorry, I can't find the actual photo that people think he used, but it's the rear view of the one inset above. If anyone has the right photo please send it my way and I'll update the post. Thanks.)

EDIT: Here's the image showing the connection fans see. There's a detailed breakdown of some other hidden elements in this post.

Like I said, I'm not totally sold on this CPN. I go back and forth on it all the time. Sometimes they seem totally credible to me and other times I think they're an optical illusion. If I had to give it a percentage, I'd say I'm 60% in the 'these types of hidden photo candies are real' camp, and 40% 'they're not real'.

Everyone should just form their own opinions based on their own perceptions. CPN like this can't be proved, but it's also difficult to wash, so everyone is free to make up their own mind.

This CPN is pretty harmless, and (if real) I think that's kind of the point, right? Giving us something that is easily denied/dismissed.

As a new turtle you might also find my masterlist post helpful.

#bjyx #yizhan #the mysteries of yizhan #🤡🚙 #thanks so much #ask

[crow-raven-crow]

Hey there crowvyn 👋

I'm just wondering if you saw my request (Dom Donna x sub reader ). This is no rush. I understand everything completely.Its just you know,it's been very long,so I just want to know.

-wish you a lovely day 🌹

𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨, 𝐝𝐨𝐯𝐞 - tldr and message for you at the bottom of this post xx

im going to use this as my next little update post since i finished all of the requests in my last update ehhe

I currently have three requests in the works right now - one of which is yours ! I actually made the decision last night that I would be pushing yours up to be the next fic out

i'm doing this because i need to rekindle my passion for the lovely Larissa Weems. I still think about her, but after writing SO many fics about her over and over, it made me feel a bit mechanic and i hate feeling like that - i'm going to pick her requests back up after this Donna fic, so don't worry weems anons

these are the ones in my notes, but i'm focusing on the top three (which are on my masterlist)

★ In terms of requests, I have (in order from top to bottom):

𝐁𝐞 𝐀 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥.. - Donna Beneviento x Reader, dom!Donna, heavy teasing from reader, prob punishment sex, plot is established

𝐎𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 - Larissa Weems x Reader, virgin reader, first times, soft, plot is established

𝐎𝐧𝐞 ��𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 - Larissa Weems x Reader, hand kink!! <3, reader loves Larissa's perfume, plot is established

𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮.. - Brienne of Tarth x Reader !!!, fluff ehehe, small angst because im crazy, soft smut, Brienne comes back after being away for a while - this one.. ok im not far in Game of Thrones so accuracy is kinda meth but like im excited hehe - plot is established

𝐔𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 - Larissa Weems x Reader, Larissa finding out reader has nipple piercings, reader has an innocence about them so it comes as a surprise, plot undecided

𝐔𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 - Larissa Weems x Reader, soft, cute, fluff yayay, reader stops taking antidepressants for a bit but goes back on them, really bad serotonin syndrome, concerned Larissa - i did some research on this already, but if anyone has any tips/points they can send me about this so i can know more about it then it would be very much appreciated, especially if it's from the anon that requested it ! - plot undecided

What's above is in the request. I work in sections, and the titles of what I'm working on will be added to my masterlist and placed with/under their character section as I get to them. Again, titles are subject to change, but it's unlikely for this section.

★ In terms of series (in the works, not coming out for A WHILE):

i figured I'd update about these since they were in my last update. UHHHH;;; no clue when they're coming out LMAO. I'm working on them every now and then, but they'll likely be worked on when i have a longer break from school (which kills me high key). Oh.. there's also a new series idea I have written down.. it's actually really goof but I want to watch the show before I really establish anything

This is just what I can do with my time and focus (which is important)

★𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬:

That idea that I mentioned being Brienne, Larissa, or Lucifer in my last update ACTUALLY ended up being the Alcina Dimitrescu one I posted yesterday LMAOO. I loved that idea smmmmm like gods it was so fun to write. Still around the 6-ish personal ideas. But (again) I do prioritize my requests.

★ 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

i work in sections, my masterlist will be updated with the current title under/with the character that I'm working on

look at my requirements before submitting requests. i've since updated a few things and will continue to do so

my posting schedule is non-existent due to school and work

please remember that I'm in college taking a 5 class course load AND i work, so things can get backed up and i heavily apologize about that. However, this is a hobby for me and I do it on my free time. Sometimes I'll post a lot and other times I'll be taken off the face of the earth.

I'm entering final exam season.. This means I'm not sure if requests will pick up for me or slow down;; it really depends on the schedule and how I feel about the class in question. I'll post another update when the time comes

There are other requests in my inbox that were not listed above.. That doesn't mean I'm not going to do them, it just means they're not in the current section of focus. I'm getting there, I swear

if you wish to interact with me more, i’m very active on twitter

TLDR: Those are the requests I'm working on currently - first three are my main focus. Series are completely on pause until I can find the time/focus to really work on them. Check my masterlist every so often - it's updated with that I'm currently working on, the character it contains, and what kind of fic it is. I'm slow, but I'm getting there.. I promise

🤍For the lovely anon:

I'm sorry it's taken me so long;; School, work, and travel definately caught up to me, but I'm glad you understand. It will be out soon, and I'm actually really excited to write this one! I missed the RE8 brainrot. I hope it was okay that I updated so heavily haha

Any questions like these/any posts containing updated will all be under the same tag (second tag down below)

x,

~ 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

#crowravencrow #crowvyn updates #crowvyn answered #masterlist #updates #oneshot #one shot #hopefully this gets to the ones that follow me #sorry ive been slow;; #time has really caught up to me on this one;; #im lucky enough to have a good chunk of you that understant #so it makes me feel a bit better

[studentbyday]

me on monday: decided to make a merve-like study schedule so hopefully i can overcome overwhelm and procrastination. 🤓 "+" means any amount of bonus time if i feel up to it, but i don't *have* to do more than already specified here.

D-40 DAYS TO FREEDOM

me today: i really wish i didn't have to study today. despite the study schedule, i spent way too much time procrastinating in bed.

also i started using obsidian today and it's...basically like OneNote?? the learning curve isn't even that huge. maybe the confusion starts when you try to zettelkasten and use plugins. i like it (zettelkasten) in theory, but i don't think it's for my already overwhelmed (and highly unorganized and scattered) brain struggling to understand the info for the first time on a tight schedule 😵‍💫

study:

send biochem paper (1st draft) ✅ (it's not done, but the 1st draft is ungraded and i have bigger fish to fry today)

write biochem discussion post ✅

1 section of mol bio notes (2 long sections total this week 😵‍💫) ✅ (why is it that accepting that i can't actually store in long-term memory all the new info they throw at us in the time they allot feels like giving up? i just got my midterm mark back and i didn't actually score that bad but i am exhausted just thinking that i have to do it all over again in december 😭 and then i'll wanna review the course content so that i don't feel so awful about myself not remembering things long-term, but this time at a more leisurely pace)

start mol bio assignment ✅ (and by that, i mean 1 tiny question 😂)

notes on 1 of 2 psyc ch from last week ✅

watch psyc overview + start 2nd ch from last week ✅ (thank god it's sm shorter than the 1st one 😵‍💫😌)

self-care:

physio exercises ✅

⏰: i expected the struggle but i made it to 5h today! i really need to take the breaks seriously tho, if i'm to last for longer...tmr i might have to try for 8 or so hours again, instead of the 4 planned above bc tHeRe'S sOoOo mUcH tO dOoOoOo (and i wanna finish them asap) 😵‍💫

#i was going for a marauder's map look with the schedule which reminded me of hermione granger 🤷🏻‍♀️ #is it strange that parchment aesthetic puts me in a studying mood? 😅🪄 #studyblr #stemblr #stem academia #stem student #100 days of productivity #100dop #study motivation #study aesthetic #student life #study movitation #studyspo #100 days of self discipline #100 days of studying #hermione granger aesthetic #heyfrithams #heydilli #heybenni #heyharri #mittonstudies #diaryofastemstudent #studyingwithmila #astudentslifebuoy #academia aesthetic #light academia #light academia aesthetic

[naranjapetrificada]

Ooooh thank you for playing with me! I enjoyed your answers!

You write both Ed and Stede beautifully, but I totally get what you mean about getting into Ed's hornet's nest!

Funny, I don't really listen to music as I write because I get too distracted, but I love linking songs to scenes. Weird.

Awww... I'm freakishly proud that my words could make you cry. You'll never know how much your comments and support mean to me.

I made myself cry when I finished AWoTT because I hate the last few chapters. They did a real disservice to the story because I rushed and tried to write something readers would like instead of what I'd done for most of it. On top of that, I ruined the Buttons/Jeanne d'arc ending because I worried that it would seem like I was ripping off the show. They were both supposed to turn into birds. I can't face trying to fix it. (If you haven't read the end, don't waste your time, and if you did and were disappointed we are on the same page.)

Eeek! Sorry for the ramble... xoxoxo

Before I get to the actual reply to this ask: if y'all haven't been treated to A World of Tempestuous Things, one of the top-five best fics in the fandom, I'm gonna need you to drop everything and read it the way I did whenever I got a notification that a new chapter had been posted.

Re: the ask itself:

I'm sorry you're dissatisfied with how it turned out but if it's any consolation it felt like a fitting end to me! The first time I tried to read the final chapter I literally couldn't for all the tears in my eyes because I knew it was ending. I no longer have a neutral relationship with any of the songs you used for the section titles, especially "Don't Dream It's Over" because god if that didn't just get at the root of everything I felt about the fact that your fic existed. I miss your versions of Ed and Stede terribly and it's gonna be a tall order for anyone but David Jenkins to make them half so indelible to me. I felt like I was watching actual people I loved sail away forever.

I started reading it around when it was halfway through I think? It shouldn't have immediately worked for me when I first started. I was burning out a bit on reunion fics and I thought of myself as someone who didn't love when fics had too many OCs and those OCs got a lot of time in the story, not to mention my strict no-WIP rule, but whatever made me read it must have been fate or something. That and the reflectiveness of the characters and the times the prose knocked me off my feet and the usually gutting historical interstitials (I still think about/am haunted by the Chopin one at least once a week) and the lines I took screenshots of to send to my therapist. It's so much greater than the sum of its parts, and fiction like that can change things about a person's preconceived notions and personal tastes forever.

If I tried to list the things about it that are going to stay with me well, it would literally be easier for everyone if I just c/p the entire fic into this reply. It felt like such a journey that readers got to go on with both the characters and with the story on a like, metatextual level? It completely changed my relationship with high-quality WIPs. Now that I'm writing my first longfics I'm thinking about character and framing devices and POV voice in entirely new ways because I was fortunate enough to get the chance to read it. It's criminal that it's not in the top 5 most read fics in the fandom and I will not stop recommending it until that happens.

Even if you're not happy with the ending I think your readers are. This reader certainly is. And if you did want to go back and change it someday I have zero doubts that I'll be happy with that too. The fandom is richer for having your work in it.

#asks #asked and answered #ask game follow-up #fanfic writing #ofmd fic #fic recs #a world of tempestuous things #ofmd must reads #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #edward teach #stede bonnet #gentlebeard #blackbonnet